Cancer Facts & Figures*

Cancer is generally described as a group of abnormal cells whose growth and spread are uncontrolled. Whereas normal cells divide at regular intervals to maintain the body’s resources, cancer cells have been described as
“cells without stop signs.” The rapid growth of cancer cells crowds out and destroys normal, healthy cells and sickness can result.

Some Types of Cancer that Affect Children:

· Leukemia (30%) -- Evenly divided between acute and chronic leukemia.

· Brain & Spinal Tumors (21%) -- Masses of cancerous tissue.

· Sarcomas -- Tumors that appear in soft tissue, as in rhabdomyosarcomas, or in the bone, as in osteogenic sarcomas.

· Lymphomas and Hodgkin’s Disease -- Cancers that invove the lymph nodes.

· Wilms’ Tumor -- A kidney cancer.

· Retinoblastoma -- Cancer of the eye.

Metastasis describes the movement of cancers to other parts of the body. This may occur on a regional basis or throughout the body.

How Many Children Get Cancer?

An estimated 9,200 new cases of childhood cancer will be reported in 2004; as a childhood disease, cancer is rare.

What is Chemotherapy and Radiation?

Chemotherapy refers to the use of drugs to treat cancer. Drugs in “chemo” attempt to kill cells as they multiply. Cancer cells, with their rapid growth rate, are the primary targets of chemotherapy. Radiation refers to the use of X-rays to attack a specific region of cancer cells.

Why do Some Children with Cancer Lose Their Hair?

Since chemotherapy attacks dividing cells, hair cells are at risk because they also divide rapidly. Cells that line the mouth are also sensitive to chemotherapy and it may leave a child with sores inside his or her mouth.

What are the Survival Rates for Children with Cancer?

Survival of cancer depends in large part on the type of cancer a child has. Overall survival in children is 78%. Leukemia, the most prevalent form of childhood cancer, has an 85% survival rate. Despite advances in medical treatments, cancer remains the leading cause of death by disease for children under age 15 and will amount to 1,500 children in 2004. The good news is that mortality rates in children have decreased by 49% since 1975.

*Statistics taken from Cancer Facts & Figures 2004. Published by the American Cancer Society, 2004.